Founder of BlinkNow Foundation to Speak at Rotary Club of Madison

A Mendham native who created the BlinkNow Foundation will be speaking at the Rotary Club of Madison’s luncheon later this week.

Maggie Doyne, 28, of Mendham, created the BlinkNow Foundation to serve women and children in post-civil war Nepal. She was recently named a CNN Hero and is scheduled to be honored with a Peacebuilder Award by Drew University’s Center on Religion, Culture and Conflict next month. Her foundation, BlinkNow, has opened a home for Nepalese orphans, a school that serves 350 students, a medical and counseling clinic and a women’s center, according to the Rotary Club of Madison.

At 19 years old, Doyne used her life savings to build a home for orphaned children in civil war-torn Nepal after having visited the country on vacation, the rotary club said. After which she, she opened the Kopila Valley Home and School in Surkhet, Nepal, a school for the region’s most impoverished children.

Doyne’s work and efforts have been covered by Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, Nicholas Kristof in a story for the New York Times Magazine and she was even honored as an Unsung Hero of Compassion by the Dalai Lama in 2014, the rotary club said.

The Rotary Club of Madison luncheon will begin at noon on Thursday, April 30. The cost of attendance is $20, cash or check payable at the door. Reservations are required by April 28 to Carmela Moeller at carmoeller@aol.com.

(Photo courtesy of the Rotary Club of Madison)