Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Pablo Lara of the amphibious transport dock ship USS New York (LPD-21), volunteered with Habitat for Humanity’s Brushes with Kindness last Wednesday.

He and several USS New York sailors painted a community center at the New York City Housing Authority’s Mariners Harbor House on Staten Island.

The New York, built with seven and one-half tons of World Trade Center Steel in its bow, is currently participating in Fleet Week 2011.

Lara is a 1994 graduate of Refugio High School and the son of Antonio S. Lara Sr. of Refugio and the late Juanita Castellano Lara.

Lara is married to Mary Christina Lara, a 1991 graduate of Skidmore-Tynan ISD and a 1994 graduate of Coastal Ben College. She is the daughter of Genoveva Garza of Skidmore and the late Enrique Garza.

The couple’s son, Paul-Anthony,12, traveled to Staten Island to join his father for a three-day Tiger Cruise from Staten Island to NS Norfolk.

In addition to Paul, the couple has two other sons, Nicholas A. Lara, 8, and Nathaniel A. Lara, 6.

Mary Christina currently serves as the ship’s Command Ombudsman. Through Navy Wives Clubs of America, Inc., Mary Christina is the Navy/Marine Corps Council Represen-tative.

From May 23-27, she scheduled appointments inside the Pentagon with the National President of NWCA, Inc. and met the Honorable Juan M. Garcia III, the assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs.