"It was very special," she said.
"Nalini said, 'we call her the bossy one' -- as soon as she said that, I went, 'wow, she's talking about me!' I probably am bossy, but I'm one of those people who is totally organised -- you have to be, if you want to run a successful group."
Similarly taken aback was Mr Walker who, now a member of the Gulu club, was invited to the convention as a guest.
"I didn't even click; it was totally unexpected," he said.
Both Mrs Hansen, of Matahiwi, and Mr Walker, who divides his time between Carterton and Uganda, have been Lions for almost 30 years between them.
Mrs Hansen joined the Masterton Holdsworth club after her husband died, not long after moving to Matahiwi from Eketahuna.
"I needed to meet new people," she said.
"I was at an event, and a woman asked me, 'why aren't you a Lion?"'
Since then, she has held several leadership roles: she has been Masterton Holdsworth club president twice, has been chair for Zone 4 (all the Wairarapa Clubs), is the current club secretary, and treasurer for District 202M, which stretches from Gisborne to Wellington, and up to Levin.
She is the Zone 4 publicity officer, compiling the monthly Lions roundup for Midweek.
Mrs Hansen lead her club in setting up two programmes at Masterton Primary School: a "healthy lunch morning" to help children prepare nutritious meals -- inspired by her daughter, who as Type 1 diabetes, and Story Grans, where club members either read to the children, or hear their reading.
Both have been hugely rewarding.
"Seeing the children enjoy the wraps they made themselves, and snuggle up to you on the couch with their book melts your heart.
"I feel for these kids, and some of them don't get read to at home -- mum and dad don't have the time."
One of her biggest joys is promoting Lions Clubs in the community. As such she has brought in six new members in the past five years.
"I call it my elevator speech, like I'm meeting someone in a lift, and I have 30 seconds to tell them about Lions before the next floor. We're so passionate about what we do, and I'm not afraid to be upfront about sharing it. Lions do great deeds for humanity, it gives you the warm fuzzies."
Doing particularly great deeds is Mr Walker, leading the Greytown and Gulu clubs in fundraising for Kica Emmanuel, a 15-year-old Ugandan boy with albinism.
Mr Walker was inspired by Kica, whose condition causes severe vision problems, after seeing a picture of him on Facebook having his eyes examined by eye doctor Watmon Ben.
"I thought it'd be fantastic to have Lions support him. As it turned out, Dr Ben is past president of Gulu Lions, and his hospital was build by Lions Clubs from Norway.
"Gulu Lions were delighted to be involved."
Thanks to funds raised by the two clubs, Kica was able to have further appointments with Dr Ben and get his first pair of glasses. The clubs are also paying for his school fees, unaffordable for many families in his community.
"He's so bright -- now he's got his glasses, he's second in his class."
The Greytown and Gulu clubs have formed LEAP -- Lions Empowering Albinos Programme -- which aims to support greater numbers of Ugandans with albinism.
Mr Walker's aim is to have Lions support 10 children by the end of the year, raising money for sunscreen, lip balm, wide brim hats, and glasses.
"Raising awareness is also important. There's a lot of superstition, so these kids are being shunned because they're different."
In addition, Mr Walker has inspired farmers in South Wairarapa to donate towards rebuilding agriculture in Uganda following its civil war.
