The Food Club Network is a membership-based network group with support staff and a steering team of leaders from member organizations.
As Founding Executive Director, Lura Barber leads the Food Club Network through its transition into an independent nonprofit serving a growing membership of food clubs statewide. A West Michigan native, Lura comes to the Food Club Network from a career spanning national nonprofit leadership, partnership development, and food access advocacy. She most recently led partnership development at a software startup focused on modernizing how public benefits reach families in need. Before that, she spent nearly a decade at the National Council on Aging building the organization’s first SNAP (Food Assistance Program) enrollment program for older adults, and later drove significant growth at Benefits Data Trust. As Board Chair at Community Food Club in Grand Rapids, Barber saw firsthand the power of the food club model, equipping her to lead its statewide expansion.
Beyond Food Club Network leadership, Lura enjoys time in her garden and with family at home in Grand Rapids. She also teaches improvisational comedy, through which “people learn to be comfortable being weird.”
OUR STEERING TEAM
As a membership organization, the Food Club Network relies on active leaders from member nonprofits to set strategy for the growth of the organization.
AJ Fossel is the executive director of Community Food Club in Grand Rapids. Throughout her career in the charitable food sector, AJ has been dedicated to providing innovative, dignified solutions to food access issues. Her leadership revolves around authentic cultivation of community partnerships; she believes the best work happens when everyone has a place at the table.
Before joining Community Food Club, AJ was the director of Social Concerns Ministries at St. Alphonsus Church, where she oversaw a food pantry and other social justice programs. She holds a master’s degree in Public Administration focused in Non-Profit/Public/Organizational Management from Grand Valley State University. When not at the food club, AJ can be found walking in her neighborhood or exploring all the great parks Kent County has to offer with her husband, three young children, and their beloved husky Sheila.
O’Nealya Gronstalis the executive director of Lakeshore Food Club in Ludington, which has, over the last six years, grown to serve more than 2,800 households and significantly expanded investment in rural food systems through public and private funding. She has led the development of school-based programs that integrate choice-based grocery access directly into schools to reduce stigma and improve family nutrition and a regional food hub designed to strengthen local procurement, aggregation, and distribution across multiple rural counties. Her work bridges food access, economic resilience, and health equity through practical, community-driven systems change.
O’Nealya serves on the board of directors for the Lakeshore Regional Entity Prepaid Inpatient Health Plan, is a Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation 2026 Health Policy Fellow, and consults with healthcare and agricultural partners on rural food access strategy and cross-sector collaboration.
Scott Rumpsa, chief executive officer of Community Action House in Holland, is a mission-oriented leader committed to innovation and excellence in the nonprofit sector. Upon his return home to West Michigan in 2018, Scott has spearheaded the transformation and expansion of the organization’s community work, launching ambitious new efforts including a Food Club & Opportunity Hub and Lakeshore Food Rescue, as well as a highly collaborative fifty-two-unit affordable housing development. Recognizing that families in deep need often struggle with a complex web of challenges, Community Action House combines healthy food access, street outreach, resource navigation, and financial empowerment—all in the context of relationships—to nourish, equip, and empower our neighbors.
Scott has an MBA and graduate studies in nonprofit management, as well as nearly 20 years of senior leadership experience in entrepreneurial nonprofits, including in Kenya and Washington, DC.