Growing up in Florida, Chris Evert donated some of her allowance to support children overseas.

"I had these romantic dreams of leaving home and going to another country and helping people," she says.

Evert eventually did serve in foreign lands-well, she served, volleyed and drilled crosscourt winners.

Indeed, she became one of the leading women's tennis players ever, earning 18 Grand Slam singles titles, including seven French Opens, three Wimbledons and two Australian Opens. Evert was ranked No. 1 or 2 in the world from 1975 to '86.

After her 1989 retirement, she returned home to Florida and fulfilled her ambition to help others by founding Chris Evert Charities.

A month after her last match, she hosted the first Chris Evert Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic. The tournament has been held each fall except in 1991, when Evert gave birth to the first of three sons with husband Andy Mill, the ex-Olympic skier. It has raised more than $8 million, including matching state funds, for various causes.

Almost all the money now supports The Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida, which sponsors substance-abuse programs statewide. Many are for pregnant women and mothers, offering shelter, treatment, parental education and job training and placement services. And, most important to Evert, the emphasis is on keeping families together.

"I got involved in this because South Florida has always had a problem with drugs," she says. "And when I had children, I noticed this program specifically for moms. A lot of other programs farm the kids out, but we fund centers where mothers can keep their kids with them. I think that gives incentive to the moms."

Evert, a member of The Ounce of Prevention's board of directors, does more than raise funds. She visits women in residential centers, kids in at-risk programs (left) and drug-addicted babies in hospitals, and she has taped PSAs warning pregnant women about substance abuse.

"She's an enormous asset," says Ounce of Prevention Fund president Doug Sessions, "not only as a very active board member and fund-raiser, but just having her name associated with our organization gives us credibility when going out and finding other dollars in the private sector and public community."

Evert's charity work also includes serving on boards for, among others, the Make-A-Wish Foundation of South Florida, Save the Children and the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse. She juggles philanthropy, and her NBC tennis commentary, around raising Alex, 7, Nicky, 4, and Colton, 2.

"I feel guilty when I leave my kids for the day and visit a treatment center," she says. "But then I talk to the women and hold the children. I hear the pride in a woman's voice when she tells me how she changed her life after being on the street, or abused by her husband or on crack cocaine and pregnant.

"How many mistakes have we made in our lives?" Evert asks. "People deserve a second chance."