The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

7 | The IFP -H alton H ills | T hursday,June 18,2020 theifp.ca .ca 9478Wellington Rd 124, ERIN,ON 519-833-9313 | bloomgreen.ca Surprise Dad this Father's Day with beautiful container trees & shrubs at Monday-Friday 7am-7pm Saturday 8am-6pm | Sunday 9am-5pmFOLLOW US 20%off It's undeniable that life has dealt some harsh blows to little Joshua Mckeown. Since his father's mur- der almost two years ago, the seven-year-old has been raised by his grandfa- ther, Peter Mckeown, a Georgetown pensioner who's legally blind. So when Robb Anderson saw a way to help make the boy's days just a bit bright- er, he jumped at the chance. Anderson, who operates Kingsmen Kustoms in Brampton, recently cus- tomized Josh's electric mo- tocross bike, completing the majority of the work at no cost. "We thought, this little kid has been put through the wringer. Let's take his mind off things," he said. After receiving a call from Peter looking for a quote to get the work done, and later learning about Josh's story, Anderson's team and his other con- tacts in the industry took it away from there to make the youngster's bike the best it can be. He started by connecting with Benfoot Customs to get the bike repaired with plas- tic welding, with the compa- ny also doing some work on Josh's helmet to make it look brand new. Anderson then reached out to a member of the Un- ruly Riders motorcycle club, who went above and beyond with his reuphol- stery work by replacing the torn black seat with white ostrich skin leather. From there, the King- smen team customized the bike in blue with a hydro- graphic print of vines mixed with smiling skulls. "Josh told us one of his fa- vourite colours was blue, so we put a beautiful blue pearl base coat to make it spar- kle," explained Anderson. "We then used a carbon fi- bre print for the front fork covers, gas tank and the front number plate. At Pe- ter's request, we put Josh's father's name and '#1 Dad' on the number plate, and last name on his helmet." When everything was done, Anderson's team per- sonally delivered the fresh- ly-minted parts to the Mckeowns -- a special mo- ment for everyone in- volved. "It felt so good to do something nice like that, and let Josh know that there are complete strang- ers who care about him," said Anderson. So what does the little guy think of his new wheels? "He was as happy as all get out and so excited to ride it," said Peter. "This kid truly deserves every- thing he gets. I do every- thing I can for him, but it's tough sometimes." Peter recently launched a GoFundMe to raise mon- ey for an RESP to fund Josh's post-secondary edu- cation. The page can be found at gofundme.com under "Joshua RESP For Future Education." NEWS KICKING COMPASSION INTO HIGH GEAR LOCAL COMPANY PAYS TO CUSTOMIZE MOTOCROSS BIKE FOR MURDER VICTIM'S SON MELANIE HENNESSEY mhennessey@ metroland.com Above: Joshua Mckeown shows off his new motocross bike gear customized by Kingsmen Kustoms in Brampton. Right: Joshua and his dad Derrick. Peter Mckeown photos "We thought, this little kid has been put through the wringer. Let's take his mind off things." - Robb Anderson