California Girl Raises Thousands for Homeless Neighbors With Lemonade Stand

— -- A preteen from California has already dedicated half of her life to helping the homeless in her area, raising thousands of dollars by hosting a lemonade stand every summer since she was 6 years old.

Janelle Sagen, the mother of 12-year-old Jaelyn "J.J." Sagen, told ABC News today that it all started when her daughter encountered a homeless man in 2010. "When she was 6 years old she said, 'Mom, let's make a lemonade stand and buy that man a house.'"

Since then, J.J. has hosted a lemonade stand every year and to date has raised nearly $16,000 for We Care of Los Alimitos, a local charity that helps the homeless community and works to prevent homelessness in the area, Sagen said.

"She definitely walks to the beat of her own drum, I don't really know how to describe her any other way," Sagen added. "She's always been like that, she is kind of an old soul."

She added: "She is very smart, very giving, she's always had that heart. She is very strong-willed, if she wants something, she goes and she does it; it completely drives us crazy."

Sagen said their community has united to support J.J. and help their homeless neighbors.

"It is really neat how the community has really come together," Sagen said, describing how local business have joined in the effort by printing banners for J.J. or hosting J.J.'s lemonade stand outside of their busy buildings. "It has been such a community effort."

Still, Sagan said she never expected her daughter's lemonade stand to get this big, adding that Los Alamitos Mayor Richard Murphy showed up on Friday to buy some lemonade from J.J. "It's really neat to see how far Facebook and Twitter have allowed it to travel."

Sagan also said that a local fire station came out in its truck for some lemonade, as well as a local police captain.

J.J. told ABC News today that she was motivated to act because she felt it wasn't fair that some people did not have a place to go home to.

"Well, I saw a homeless man on the street and it kind of surprised me because I had no clue that people lived like that. I just didn't think it was fair because I lived such a fortunate life," J.J. said.

The rising seventh-grader said that when she grows up she wants to run her own nonprofit organization.