Mendham woman named CNN’s Hero of the Year

A Mendham woman who has changed the lives of hundreds of children in Nepal is now nationally recognized after being named CNN’s 2015 Hero of the Year on Tuesday evening.

“This is huge, kind of surreal still, and big for Nepal. They’re going wild over it,” said Maggie Doyne, 28. “I’m so happy. This is so cool, a great win for Nepal, my team and all the kids who really deserve it.”

Doyne was named a finalist for the honor in October, when she was named a Top 10 Hero and received $10,000 for BlinkNow, a nonprofit organization that helps underprivileged children and women in Nepal, of which she is founder and chief executive officer.

After a month of voting, Doyne won top honors Tuesday and will receive an additional $100,000 to benefit BlinkNow.

“If you had told me when I turned 18 that I was going to be the mom of 50 kids, I would have told you that you were totally crazy. And I am,” Doyne said Tuesday while accepting the award. “And to my kids, I love you so much. Don’t ever forget how much I love you. And to the country of Nepal, thank you so much for loving me and accepting me as a daughter, welcoming me into your country.”

Doyne ended her brief “thank you” speech by encouraging others to make a difference.

“To all of you in this room and those  who are watching, please, please remember that we have the power to create the world that we want to live in, just as we want it,” Doyne said. “And that’s what all the heroes here have done tonight.”

Doyne first went to Nepal during a planned gap year between graduating from West Morris Mendham High School and starting college. She ended up using her life savings — $5,000 of babysitting money — to help a 6-year-old poverty-stricken girl named Hima in Surkhet.

Doyne used the funds to pay for Hima’s school tuition, books and uniform, and to buy a piece of land with the hopes of building a children’s home. Two years later, in 2008, Doyne opened the Kopila Valley Children’s Home and, in 2010, the Kopila Valley School.

Kopila Valley is now home to 51 children and teaches nearly 400 students. It’s also home to a health clinic and a women’s center. Doyne has legal custody of many of the children at Kopila Valley.

Doyne is able to support the home and school through BlinkNow, and the $100,000 grant will go toward building an earthquake-resistant and environmentally sustainable school, allowing her to help more children and educate them from the preschool to post-graduate vocational levels.

“We’re literally building it right now,” Doyne said. “It’s a huge, massive project that’s really going to expand the school.”

Doyne and the rest of this year’s Top 10 CNN Heroes will be honored during “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute,” at 8 p.m. Dec. 6 on CNN.

Doyne, who is staying stateside for the next few weeks, plans to have a viewing party to watch the show in New Jersey.

The show is hosted by CNN’s Anderson Cooper and includes presenters Neil Patrick Harris, Taylor Schilling, hip-hop artist  Common, Kelly Ripa, Kathy Griffin, Sharon Stone, Chris Noth and Zachary Quinto. The presenters will join each Top 10 Hero on stage as they share their stories about giving back.

Actress and singer Victoria Justice presented Doyne with her honor. Doyne was allowed to bring one guest to the ceremony and asked BlinkNow co-founder Tope Bahadur Malla to join her.

“It was absolutely amazing. The coolest part was meeting the other heroes, and once the ceremony started, it went so fast,” Doyne said. “All I remember was hearing my name and I ran on stage and hugged Anderson Cooper a million times.”

Doyne brought several Kopila Valley children with her on her latest trip and spent much of Wednesday taking them around New York City.

“We saw the Statue of Liberty, the Freedom Towner, Central Park,” Doyne said. “We made a whole bucket list to check off.”

Doyne also will speak to students at Oak Knoll School in Summit at 8:30 a.m. Friday.

How to help

To contribute to BlinkNow, go to https://secure.blinknow.org/page/contribute/cnnheromaggiedoyne.

Staff Writer Michael Izzo: 973-428-6636; mizzo@GannettNJ.com