↞ the Edenhope family ↠
↠ Stephen & Ruth Quinto ↞
Founders, Visionaries, & Communitiy Leaders
Stephen and Ruth Quinto left the United States in 2006, bound for the South Pacific. Their dream was to establish a sanctuary in the heart of nature, a community in which seekers of truth could congregate and live harmoniously together to contribute to the highest good for mankind.
When they settled upon the island of Espiritu Santo, they recognized at once that this was the place to fulfill their dream. They spent 3 years searching for the perfect location, and in 2009 signed a 75-year lease for the land with its customary land-owners, under the agreement that the site would be officially designated and registered as a Community Conservation Area under Vanuatu Law.
What they achieved is nothing short of miraculous. Construction of the ecovillage and the 9km stretch of road servicing it took 3 years, and they made it their home in 2012. Stephen and Ruth spent their days observing the gentle current of river, watching the garden grow, and listening to the call of wild roosters in the forest.
In 2014, Stephen departed from Edenhope to pursue his next dream and a new vision: an even larger lease of land on the island where an even larger community would grow, which he named East of Eden. This project is still under development.
Ruth remained at Edenhope Nature Preserve to nurture the growing community, hosting visitors from all walks of life who traveled from many parts of the world to live there in quiet communion with nature. She called it a ‘holy space,’ and the love she brought to the daily life of the community made it so.
From 2018, both Ruth and Stephen started to face health difficulties that would escalate over the years that followed. These challenges unified them in their love and shared sense of purpose, but meant that they gradually had to scale back on their direct participation at Edenhope and focus on family.
In January 2022, Ruth and Stephen returned to the United States, where their health needs could be better supported through the devoted care of their four sons — Seth, Jesse, Theo, and Ben.
Stephen Quinto — a lifelong visionary and maverick — passed away in August 2022 due to complications arising from surgery. He is loved and missed by all who knew him, and yet his legacy lives on through all who come to share in the experience of Divine communion at Edenhope Nature Preserve.
Ruth, his beloved wife of more than fifty-two years, passed away in Februaru 2023. Her love, her spirit of generosity, and the example she set of a life in harmony with nature have formed the foundation of the way we live in this community.
In this sense, Ruth is very much still with us.
↠ Jesse Quinto ↞
Trustee & Executor
Appointed in 2022 as the Trustee of Edenhope and its sister projects in Vanuatu, Jesse is responsible for the strategic direction and stewardship of his parents’ vision.
Having studied the teachings of Advaita Vedanta and the disciplines of yoga for several years, Jesse’s spiritual practice has provided the structure and foundation of his approach to work and daily life. His principal guides and mentors have been Ramesh Balsekar, Tony Robbins — and of course, his father Stephen.
Jesse has a natural gift for leadership and developing team dynamics, bringing his background in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and Neuro Linguistic Programming/Neuro Associative Conditioning (NLP/NAC) into practice to foster connection, cooperation, and networks of mutual support throughout the projects.
His role is to guide, mediate and support the community of Edenhope Nature Preserve as it grows into the fruition of his parents’ dream.
↞ Website Credits ↠
We thank Ashcharya Wickramage for doing the structural layout, content production and photography for this website during the time she spent as a volunteer at Edenhope Nature Preserve.
We thank Jonathan Adams for providing drone footage of the Edenhope Nature Preserve.