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GREAT FALLS- As a mother and former teacher, Kristina Davis, who serves as the director for the Montana Children's Defense Fund, feels a strong pull toward children and especially children living in poverty.

"We give birth to our children and need to create the best possible garden for them to grow," she noted.

Davis just returned from the Children's Defense Fund national conference in Cincinnati, where a variety of advocates for children's needs found themselves.

"People from 18 to 30 who will go home and make a loud noise about the needs that children have," Davis said, "and they need to support children as they're growing up, to provide them the best beginning possible."

One of those young advocates, Tim Seery, gets to apply what he's learned in Great Falls but also at Harvard, where he'll return for his second year of college.

"You know I've always had an issue in social justice," Seery said. "I've always been passionate about social justice and advocating for those who (can't vote) and voiceless."

Seery's seen impoverished children in Great Falls and Boston, but regardless of where they call home, he said the need is the same.

"They're both children who may be the same age, completely different backgrounds, completely different life circumstances, completely different ethnicities, but they both face the same challenges."

At the conference, attendees learned what to stand up for, in order to overcome those challenges.

The experience left Davis feeling ready to keep giving children a voice with the Children's Defense Fund here in Montana.

"It helped me take a step back and re-energize, and listen, listen to the children's stories, listen to what their needs are and re-energize my efforts and commitment," Davis said.