Dad Works Three Jobs To Surprise Daughter With Dream Dress—And Her Reaction Is So Touching

When 14-year-old Nevaeha Smith found the dress of her dreams for her eighth-grade dance, there was just one little problem: the price tag. After falling in love with the lace-and-floral number, the Pittsburgh teen asked her parents if the $200 dress was something they could afford.

Nevaeha’s dad, Ricky Smith, made his daughter no promises but said he would see what he could do. Ricky — who works three jobs, at McDonald’s, Popeye’s and Circle K, to make ends meet for his family — was determined to make sure he could give Nevahaeha her dream dress for the special occasion. After squeezing extra shifts into his already packed work schedule, Ricky was able to scrape together the money to buy the dress.

When the dance rolled around, Ricky surprised Nevaeha with the dress in a very special way, and luckily for us, it was all caught on video:

First, he asked Nevaeha and her mom, Kelly Anne Flemming, to stop by McDonald’s where he was working.

“I was working at McDonald’s that day and I put the dress in the back,” Ricky explained to ABC News. “She came and I brought it out and told her that her grandmother bought it for her and I told her, ‘This ain’t the dress you wanted, but I hope you like it.'”

Although Nevaeha was a bit disappointed that she wouldn’t be wearing the dress she had her heart set on, that all changed when she opened the garment bag to discover the big surprise.

Her overjoyed reaction is so touching that it quickly caught the attention of ABC News, which shared the moment with viewers and talked to the father and daughter in this sweet video:

“My heart felt like there was more love in it than there was before,”  Neveaha told ABC News of the moment she realized what her dad had done for her. “I love him and I’m really happy that’s he’s my father.”

For his part, Ricky was also over the moon that he could bring his daughter so much joy.

“It made me feel good. It honestly made me feel good,” he told KDKA. “It made me feel like it was about time I was able to do something for her.”