A father and husband. A ski patroller. A retired IBM engineer. These are just some of the ways you can describe Charlie Magill, a longtime volunteer with Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity and Habitat for Humanity International.
Charlie and his wife Ruth began volunteering with Green Mountain Habitat in 1987, just a couple of years after the Affiliate had started. They first worked on the second project in Milton, which was a duplex. To their surprise, the future homeowners were working right alongside them.
“One day Ruth was working with Lisa, one of the homeowners, on the construction site. Lisa had started to cry, and she said that never in her life did she ever expect to have a house of her own,” said Charlie. “And it got us hooked.”
Ruth and Charlie began to volunteer with Green Mountain Habitat regularly, and they were captivated by the mission.
In the early ’90s, the Magill’s traveled to Portland, Maine, for a regional Habitat Affiliate meeting. Then, they traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, for the 12th-anniversary celebration of Habitat.
From there, they sent in applications for a Global Work Camp with Habitat for Humanity International. At the age of 53, Charlie retired early, and he and Ruth were placed in Guatemala to spread Habitat for Humanity’s work and mission.
While in Guatemala, they built over 300 homes in just three and a half years. The houses were relatively simple, as they were around 500 square feet and cost about $900 to build.
Multiple families would work together to operate a manual block-making machine for their homes. They would then hire a mason to assemble the houses, with the help of the families and neighbors.
Over the years, Charlie and Ruth built homes in four different communities in Guatemala, and their favorite part was working with the families.
“I just feel like Habitat is a gift,” he said. He enjoyed working with the families and seeing how their lives were changed by having a home to call their own.
But Charlie and Ruth weren’t done. After their service in Guatemala, Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity, tasked the pair with starting an Affiliate in Guyana.
Charlie and Ruth spent a year and a half in Guyana and created three national Affiliates. They spread the mission of Habitat across the country and made progress towards creating awareness around housing issues.
After five years working with Habitat for Humanity International, Charlie and Ruth returned to Vermont and continued working with Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity.
Charlie continued to work with the organization across the US, and he volunteered on several Jimmy Carter Work Projects from Las Vegas to South Dakota to Los Angeles. In the 2000s, he was a house leader and block leader on some of the construction sites for these projects.
L to R: Scott Rogers (Director of Development and Communications), David Mullin (CEO), Charlie Magill.
Charlie, David, and Scott pose with a quilt made from t-shirts that were worn at past Habitat builds and projects. The quilt was created by Charlie’s wife, Ruth.
Charlie is still heavily involved with Green Mountain Habitat and housing issues in Northwest Vermont. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Green Mountain Habitat and the Williston Housing Committee.
“I knew that we needed to make our lives more meaningful as part of our religious beliefs,” Charlie said. “The idea of families having a decent place to live is just great. It’s a gift to be able to do this.”
For Charlie, his journey with Habitat has brought him all over the world and has made an impact right here in Northwest Vermont. He hopes that others can find a cause that inspires them to get involved like Habitat for Humanity has for him.
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