Edmond Fifth Grader Shows Support For Ukraine

EDMOND, Oklahoma – 

When Edmond fifth grader, Ford Wilde, heard about the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he was heartbroken.

He wanted to do something that would show his support for those in the war zone.

Before long, his entire neighborhood would be involved.

“He wanted to get this huge Ukraine flag,” Ford’s mother Kathryn Wilde said. “But, I said we didn’t have a place for it, so we thought of something else.”

Together, they decided to decorate their neighborhood with blue and yellow ribbons, the colors of the Ukranian flag.

“We came up with getting these blue and yellow tablecloths and cutting them and turning them into ribbons,” Ford said. “We put them on our house and thought, why not everybody?”

He wrote letters to his neighbors, saying, “If I were an 11-year-old boy living in Ukraine, I would be terrified.”

He wrote to the Homeowners’ Assocation asking for permission to cover the neighborhood with these ribbons.

Not only did he ask residents to consider using them, but he also even volunteered to tie them on every single home.

His neighbors and teachers were completely moved.

“He is an empathetic young man and I think we need more empathy in today’s world,” Craig Boyer, a neighbor, said. “I’m proud to know him.”

Ford’s teacher Hillary Love, who home schools him through EPIC Charter Schools, says he went above and beyond.

“A lot of youth is given a hard time and we are so critical of everybody, but there is good coming,” Hillary Love said. “Change is coming.”

Ford Wilde-Edmond Fifth Grader