F ERGUSON, Mo. -- In the beginning, they came to the protests just like everyone else. Alexis Templeton and Johnetta Elzie put their college studies on the back burner so they could join the marchers on West Florissant. Molly Greider , a paralegal in nearby Creve Coeur, would come by after her workday was over. Larry Fellows III took time off from his job at a health insurance company in St. Louis. And Deray McKesson drove all the way from Minneapolis, more than 400 miles to the north, motivated by a sense of outrage at the death of Michael Brown and a desire to show support for the black community in Ferguson, Missouri.

"I took off work," McKesson told The Huffington Post. "I made a Facebook status. And then I drove nine hours to Ferguson, not knowing anyone."

They didn't intend to become full-time protesters. But for more than 100 days now, they have stayed, facing tear gas, pepper spray and arrest -- and becoming part of the tight-knit "protester family" here in the process.

The national media has once again descended on Ferguson in anticipation of the grand jury decision on whether to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who on Aug. 9 fatally shot Brown, who was 18 and unarmed. That decision is expected to be announced before the end of the month, and possibly as early as Sunday. When it happens, media focus is likely to fall on this small group of activists, who have, among others, gradually become de facto spokespeople of the protest movement. Through regular updates on social media and by other channels, they have established themselves as essential sources of information from the protests front lines.

"The news wouldn't stop," McKesson, 29, told The Huffington Post, recalling the period immediately after Brown's death. "Every day all this stuff was coming out, and for us in the protest community, so much was happening so quickly. We do this so that every day people can be reminded of what's happening."