Dad takes daughter and best friend to father-daughter dance for touching reason
"It was an easy choice for me," dad Russ Saputo told ABC News.
— -- An Indiana dad brought his little girl and a second special date to an annual father-daughter dance to ensure no one would be left out.
Russ Saputo took both his daughter, Angelina, 10, and her best friend Ellcy Miller, 9, to the event at Trinity Lutheran School in Elkhart last month. Ellcy's dad died in 2016.
"I said [to Angelina], 'I know it's your night, but what do you think about sharing and we can double date?'" Saputo said. "It was an easy choice for me. Whatever makes these little girls smile is what I'll do. Ellcy is a sweetheart and she and Angelina have been friends since kindergarten."
Angelina and Ellcy have stayed friends even though they now attend different schools. In May 2016, one month after her father passed away, Saputo had accompanied Ellcy to her school's father-daughter dance at St. Thomas the Apostle in Elkhart. Then both families decided to make it a tradition and invite Ellcy to accompany Saputo again, along with Angelina, to the dance at Trinity Lutheran.
On the big night, Angelina's mother, Marisa Saputo, and Ellcy's mom, Kellan White, curled the girls' hair and snapped photos.
At the event, Saputo and the girls had a blast dancing like they were "sizzling bacon."
"It was really very touching and I totally think he's the greatest father," White told ABC News. "He treats Ellcy like she's his own. She can tell him anything -- that's the type of relationship they have together and Angelina and Ellcy are sisters. They just have different mothers and fathers."
Saputo plans on bringing the girls on a "second date" for ice cream in his 1969 Camaro that they love so much, he said.