Nancy Doucette knows how to plan for disasters like few others. She travels the state for the Red Cross helping everyone from kids to adults understand what it takes to prepare for potential disasters like the bird flu pandemic. She encourages them to stow some food away for such improbable events, and to always have a radio with batteries and an emergency blanket at the ready. Doucette helped Minnesota Public Radio News cover a story about preparations for the bird flu pandemic in Minnesota.

Mary Warner is a museum manager in Little Falls Minnesota and a mother of three young children. As such, she's done a fair bit of grantwriting, bookkeeping and newsletter writing, not to mention school fundraising, lunch making, and child rearing. "I do just about everything I'm asked to."

"Everything" has increasingly included sharing her insights and expertise with Minnesota Public Radio News via Public Insight Journalism. She responded with direct experience, having three kids in Little Falls schools-and she ended up being featured in a story by MPR reporter Mark Zdechlik.

Read and listen to School fundraising: A non-stop campaign.

Tex Ostvig was born in Mexico and raised in Minnesota by a single parent. As a child he searched for someone to encourage and nurture him. As an adult, he has found himself again and again drawn to becoming that guiding force for kids. He now runs UConnect at the University of Minnesota, which connects students with mentors in the community. Ostvig shared his ideas and expertise as part of an Minnesota Public Radio News project on the disparities in performance between white and minority children.

Ayman Balshe knows quite a bit about gum disease, and the experience of Palestinian immigrants. Balshe was born in the United Arab Emirates to two Palestinian parents. He later emigrated to the United States and went to school at the University of Minnesota, becoming president of the Arab Student Association. Balshe is now working on his master's degree in Periodontics at the Mayo Clinic. He is a recent addition to the Public Insight Network, and is waiting for his chance to help Minnesota Public Radio cover the news.

Jane Keyes is a generalist: Admittedly, she knows a bit about a lot of things and not a great deal about any one thing. It's her general view of the world that more than 35 years ago drew her to become a elementary teaching and a librarian. In the process, she has learned and read about a great many things, and a lot about one subject: How to teach gifted children. (1) Remember that just because they're smart doesn't mean they're going to take care of themselves-they need services and support; (2) Gifted children are smart in some areas, but not all-they have peaks and valleys like everyone else. But it was Keyes' experience with the health care system that led her to share her experience and help Minnesota Public Radio News with a series on consumer-driven health care.

With a year and a half old daughter, Millie Adelsheim saw the need for a better baby sling made from natural materials. She opened up shop in her home and soon, the business took over her house. Adelsheim bought space on a street corner in St. Paul. She has since doubled the size of the store, and branched out to sell baby care products, cloth diapers, and books. In the process she has become an experienced entrepreneur, and a keen observer of the bond between parent and child, learning through play, and the importance of toys and experiences in encouraging a connection to the natural world. Adelsheim signed up to become part of the Public Insight Network and is waiting for the right opportunity to help Minnesota Public Radio cover the news.

In most ways, Eric Hall considers himself a common citizen: Jack of many trades, master of a few. He's worked as a consumer lender, and now an assistant engineer; he has a degree in physics, and is an avid hunter and fisherman. He officiates the occasional school event, and helps teach science at a local community college. Hall has helped Minnesota Public Radio News cover a story about hunting land, and has shared his knowledge and insight on many other topics.

Doug Toavs is a Web master for Gillette Children's Hospitals, and knows a fair about about how to put a web site. But his first loves, were farming and music. As a farmer in Montana, Toavs became knowledge about cropping methods, tilling and cross-breeding cattle. Now Toavs commutes 75 miles a day, to and from Chisago City. That gives him a lot of time to think, and he spends it pondering his own energy consumption, energy efficiency and what can be done to limit greenhouse gases. Toavs has shared his experience to help Minnesota Public Radio news cover stories about global warming, driving and gas prices.