Officer Ryan Holland is a neighborhood resource officer working for the Lexington Police Department. During patrols, he likes to take time to engage with the community he’s serving. That means hearing both the good and the bad news.

“These people don’t just come out of their house and say, ‘Hey, I’m living with no water and no heat and my ceilings are falling in,’” Holland said. “It’s usually someone goes to their home and finds that out and reaches out to me.”

Hearing about the living conditions of some of the community members in the neighborhood inspired Holland to find a way to enhance the lives of those in the community. This led to him starting his nonprofit, Restore Hope. The organization aims to help people in need with tasks as simple as replacing a water heater to complex renovations such as a full drywall restoration. Through Restore Hope, Holland wants to help those in extreme conditions.

“I don’t want to be a nonprofit of handymen. We want to go in and restore hope to someone,” Holland said.

Restore Hope has managed to produce end products that could cost a homeowner over $90,000 at no expense to those they helped. Those expenses are alleviated by financial donors and contractors that donate their time. Restore Hope has worked with dozens of contracting companies that specialize in whatever a project may require, like Benjamin Moore of CLC Construction and Remodeling LLC.

“Anybody can give. You can give your talent, you can give your time or you can give money. I try to help folks out. Give them my time and my talent more than anything,” Moore said.

While donors receive peace of mind knowing they’ve helped a charitable cause, no one feels quite as blessed as the community members and recipients of the work. Melody Clark is a recipient of a full home restoration and was one of the first projects Restore Hope took on. Clark’s sister told Holland she needed a new garage because the ceiling had caved in. Restore Hope was able to do that and then some. They were able to redo her plumbing, put new drywall up, install new floors and furnish the home. Restore Hope was able to give Clark what seemed like a whole new house.

“When I came back in and just saw everything I just couldn’t believe it. That’s the house I was living in?” Clark said.

Clark, an active member of her community, had known Holland for many years but never expected the gift she’d receive from him.

“I haven’t seen him forever and then it just seemed like the lord brought him my way, in the right time,” Clark said.

Clark is grateful for her new and improved home but the benefit to the community as a whole has not escaped her. Through Restore Hope people in the community are reaching out to check on one another. This newfound connection has brought them together to make positive changes like petitioning for speed bumps on their roads.

“That’s what Ryan has helped other people see, that coming together and working together makes it all work together,” Clark said.

While recipients like Clark are happy in their new homes, Holland is grateful that he gets to make a difference outside of the badge and uniform.

“This is kind of therapy for me from a police perspective because you see the worst things of other people’s lives every day and you just kind of gotta go call to call to call and just shut things off. But doing these things, it’s a serving part and that’s what I really think we’re supposed to be doing,” Holland said.