Serena Williams helped build Jamaica school for 80 preschool children in 2016

Photo credit: Helping Hands Jamaica In February 2016, Serena Williams traded the tennis court for a construction site in Jamaica, joining charity partners, local workers and volunteers to help build the Salt Marsh Basic School in Trelawny. The project was created to give young children access to free early education in a community where such opportunities were limited. Williams contributed through the Serena Williams Fund, working with Helping Hands Jamaica and Food for the Poor on the initiative. According to Helping Hands Jamaica, the project also brought together musicians Shaggy and Sean Paul, sprinters Yohan Blake and Warren Weir, and other volunteers. Reports from Tennis News and the Jamaica Gleaner highlighted how the sports star used her global profile and personal time to support education beyond the world of tennis.From champion to volunteerSerena Williams, of the United States, reacts as she plays a women's doubles match between Venus and Serena Williams against Hao-Ching Chan, of Taiwan, and Maya Joint, at the U.S. Open tennis championships, Friday, Sept. 4, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)By 2016, Serena Williams was already one of the most recognisable athlet...