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A young woman in Iowa has received an outpouring of love from strangers across the country after she requested that firefighters nationwide send her T-shirts to honor her father — a former firefighter himself — for a special gift she's making.
Alli Marois, 23, of Milo, Iowa, posted a video on TikTok explaining her project — a quilt — which she hoped to create from shirts featuring logos of fire stations all across the U.S.
"I wanted to give him something that he would treasure forever."
"The main reason that I started this was whenever we would go anywhere on [a] family vacation, he would get a T-shirt from a local fire department," Marois told Fox News Digital. "I know he hasn’t been to all 50 states, so I figured why not just try something and try to get all 50 states for him?"
Marois added, "There’s no way he could wear 50 shirts — so I decided to make a T-shirt quilt."
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Her dad, Bill Collins, retired from the Des Moines Fire Department in September 2021 after serving for more than 38 years. Ahead of her father's 61st birthday in August, Marois wanted to prepare a unique birthday gift.
So she started in February — and made a public announcement about it on TikTok.
'Born to be a firefighter'
Marois wanted to give her dad a gift to honor his "passion for firefighting," she said.
"He’s done it for 38 years, so I wanted to give him something that he would treasure forever," his daughter said.
"My dad has been one of my number-one supporters," she added.
Bill Collins retired from the Des Moines Fire Dept. in September 2021 after serving for over 38 years. He is pictured with his wife, Deb Collins. (Courtesy Alli Marois)
After her video went viral on TikTok, Alli Marois said she received more than 100 T-shirts. Some of the shirts (folded into tiny squares!) can be seen here. (Courtesy Alli Marois)
In her TikTok video, Marois explained that given her dad's retirement, she wanted "to do something really special for him."
"There’s no way he could wear 50 shirts, so I decided to make a T-shirt quilt."
"So firefighters of TikTok, I’m asking you for your help to please send me a shirt from your state," Marois said in her video. "I would love all of you to be a part of this journey."
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Marois also mentioned how her father gave nearly four decades of his life in service as a firefighter.
"You know how some people are just born to do something?" Marois said in the video. "Well, my dad was born to be a firefighter."
Later in the video, she added, "My dad is one of the best men I know, and I would love to do this for him."
Her footage has garnered more than 246,800 views since she shared it in February.
But the overall response is what left Marois astounded after she received T-shirts from all 50 states — plus more.
Marois now has 100 shirts and counting, including a few from overseas fire departments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Keeping a secret amid all the attention
Marois has received a lot of attention online, which meant she couldn’t keep the entire project a secret from Collins.
However, she said she's still maintaining some mystery.
"He hasn’t seen all the T-shirts or anything, so he won’t know what it’s going to look like until I actually give it to him," Marois said.
Along with the shirts, Alli Marois has received handwritten letters from firefighters and from widows of firefighters who died on 9/11.
She's told her dad about the letters, but he hasn’t seen them yet.
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In order to include all the shirts that she’s received from people, Marois said she’ll be making the main side of the quilt out of the crests from the fronts of the fire shirts.
"As soon as all of these shirts started to come in, I got very emotional because [people are] helping someone they don’t even know."
She said she'll include the most striking back-of-shirts designs for the underside of the quilt.
Marois also has help from her mother. The two have started cutting shirts and will begin piecing together the blanket next week.
Ahead of her dad's 61st birthday in August, Alli Marois (left) decided to make him a very special T-shirt quilt — and strangers responded to her request. (Courtesy Alli Marois)
With the scraps, Marois said she'll be making dog toys, thanks to a recommendation from a TikTok commenter.
‘Humbling experience’
Alli Marois said her original goal was to have the quilt done by her father's birthday in August. She created that plan, however, before all the outpouring of kindness on TikTok.
Since the timeline has sped up a bit, Marois said she'll now give her dad the quilt as soon as it’s done.
"You wouldn’t really expect random strangers to help someone they don’t know."
As for the outpouring over social media, Marois said receiving the shirts has been "heartwarming" and "a very humbling experience."
"My dad has been one of my number-one supporters," Marois said of dad Bill Collins. He's pictured with his two daughters when they were very young. (Courtesy Alli Marois)
"You wouldn’t really expect random strangers to help someone they don’t know," Marois said.
"As soon as all of these shirts started to come in, I got very emotional because [people are] helping someone they don’t even know," she added.
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"They’ve never met me, they’ve never even talked to me."
Stay tuned for an update in the near future to learn dad Bill Collins' reaction to his daughter's gift!
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