MT. VERNON — For Lifeboat Alliance President Rob Dyer and his 10-year-old daughter Ally, a spirit of charity runs in the family.

“I’ve seen my dad do a lot of stuff in the community, and that was the beginning,” Ally said. “I feel really bad when I see homeless people on the streets, so I decided to do something about it.”

Ally Dyer, who will enter fifth grade at J.L. Buford Intermediate Center this fall, is the primary organizer of Lifeboat’s Kids Talent Show and Dinner Fundraiser for the Homeless 6 p.m. today at the District 80 Primary Center.

To hear her father tell it, Ally’s persistence is unparalleled, leading not only to the fundraiser’s beginning but ultimately its grand scale.

 “At first I thought she wanted to sell cookies or have a lemonade stand. She very quickly corrected me,” he said with a laugh. “I just let her kind of talk about this idea for a while because I wasn’t sure if she was really serious about it. After her telling me every night for two weeks as I was tucking her into bed, ‘You know, dad, I really want to do that,’ I thought we should try it.”

The result is an evening that will begin with dinner, provided by sponsors Buffalo Wild Wings and Dairy Queen, before moving into the entertainment: a talent show featuring pianists, guitars, tap and ballroom dancing performed and created by kids ranging from five-year-olds to teens.

To Ally, doing anything less than a full-scale evening was never an option.

“I was reading ‘American Girl’ magazine and seeing these kids doing toy drives, and I thought, ‘I’m going to do something bigger and better than that,’” she said. “And since it’s a kid organizing it, why not a kids’ talent show?”

While Rob said he provided phone numbers and occasional guidance to Ally during four months of planning, she always made the contacts and final decisions.

“I didn’t want anybody to think that Lifeboat Alliance — or me in particular — was just using her as a mascot, saying, ‘Don’t you want to support the little 10-year-old?’” he said. “I didn’t make any phone calls for her. I didn’t tell her how to do things.”

 In fact, there were several ideas Ally brought to Rob that he said made him cringe, but he was committed keeping it Ally’s project for better or worse.

“I would have gone to District 80 for the food because that would be the best deal. But she instead got 1,200 wings, 150 orders of buffalo chips and 200 dilly bars for free,” he said. “That was one of several things I think she did better than her dad would have.”

Rob and Ally both stressed how grateful they are to each of their range of sponsors — including three of Ally’s grandparents and several local leaders and businesses — but especially to Buffalo Wild Wings, Dairy Queen and District 80.

“(The sponsors) made this a hundred times better,” Ally said. “It’s just amazing how they responded.”

While many tickets for the show have already been sold — Rob estimated about 70 as of Thursday morning — more will be available at the door for $20 each, and the total gross will be matched in a donation by Lifeboat’s anonymous benefactor.

Regardless of attendance, both Dyers said they feel the effort is already a success.

“In my mind, (Ally) has already raised a lot of money for the shelter and brought all these people together under this common goal, so that’s a success,” Rob said. “It’s having an impact on other kids; my sons all want to do fundraisers now too. I’m incredibly proud of her.”

“We have a lot of adults doing a lot of stuff, but they’re not the only ones. I think it’ll be good for the community to see that kids can do something too,” Ally said. “Hopefully more kids will do stuff when they find out about this. I want people to think of this event as something that changed the community.”