Android Studio returning list of objects from within try/catch block

Question

I'm trying to create a method which can save/and or return a list of objects which are pulled from a database. I'm able to create the list within a try/catch block but I'm unable to use the list anywhere else.

...
List<UserData.Doormat> doormats;

        public void getDoormat(Activity activity ,double lat, double lon){
        Handler handler = new Handler();
        handler.post(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                //Starting Write and Read data with URL
                //Creating array for parameters
                String[] field = new String[2];
                field[0] = "latitude";
                field[1] = "longitude";
                //Creating array for data
                String[] data = new String[2];
                data[0] = String.valueOf(lat);
                data[1] = String.valueOf(lon);
                PutData putData = new PutData("http://url", "POST", field, data);
                if (putData.startPut()) {
                    if (putData.onComplete()) {
                        String result = putData.getResult();
                        try {
                            extractDoormat(result);
                        } catch (JSONException e) {
                            e.printStackTrace();
                        }
                        Log.i("PutData", result);
                    }
                }
                //End Write and Read data with URL
            }
        });
    }

This method is making a post to a database to return a list of database items which exist within a certain radius of the provided lat/lon values. The extractDoormat() method is below:

public void extractDoormat(String result) throws JSONException {
    JSONObject obj = new JSONObject(result);
    UserData user_data = (UserData) new Gson().fromJson(obj.toString(), UserData.class);
    doormats = user_data.getData();
}

doormats is a global variable in the class List<UserData.Doormat> doormats . I can perform operations on the doormats list within the extractDoormat method, but no where else. I could probably combine these into one method, but even so, I cannot retrieve the list of objects outside of the try/catch block. I would like to use this class inside of other activities to retrieve the list of objects and manipulate them in those activities. Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you!

I have tried to combine the methods into one, but I am unsure of how to save the list of objects outside of this try/catch block.