Maggie Doyne, a young American woman, who spent her babysitting savings to open an orphanage to help underprivileged children and women in Nepal, won CNN’s 2015 Hero of the Year award on Tuesday.

Incidentally, this is the third time in six years that either a Nepali or a person working in Nepal has bagged the prestigious award. Anuradha Koirala, founder of Maiti Nepal was the first Nepali to win the award in 2010, followed by Puspha Basnet, who provides a home and education to children whose parents are incarcerated, in 2012.

Doyne, 28, had first come to Nepal in 2006 while travelling with the organisation Leapnow.org.

But after witnessing the state of suffering that women and children face in Nepal during the conflict, she spent $5,000 of her babysitting money to start a school, a women’s centre and Kopila Valley Children’s Home in Surkhet district.

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 centre. “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. And to my kids, I love you so much. Don’t ever forget how much I love you,”,” CNN reported Doyne as saying, after receiving the award from singer and actress Victoria Justice in New York on Tuesday.

“And to the country of Nepal, thank you so much for loving me and accepting me as a daughter welcoming me into your country,” added Doyne, who was chosen from this year’s Top 10 Heroes in an online vote by CNN’s audience.

She will receive $100,000 for BlinkNow—her nonprofit organisation—in addition to $10,000 that each Hero bagged for being named to the Top 10.