“Volunteering capacities are limited. The fact is that volunteering in our country is experiencing a decline. The generation from 2000, when there was a boom in the establishment of volunteer associations for the restoration of castles, is slowly maturing and young people are not coming to us. That is why foreign volunteers and the involvement of local communities through social enterprises are of great support to us. Ten volunteers from Spain, France, Mexico, Vietnam, Japan and Hong Kong participated in the international volunteer camp. They brought crushed stone and prepared the terrain, helped on the farm where there are goats and ponies, which the watering hole is supposed to serve. They prepared access paths and helped with the construction of facilities for the animals. For me, it was about the twentieth volunteer camp in cooperation with the Inex organization. Young people, mostly students, come to Slovakia. Inex also sends Slovaks abroad. We have already implemented the camp at several castles, especially in eastern Slovakia, such as Šariš, Soľnohrad, Lipovce. At Hanigovský Castle for the first time. The response was very positive, including from the village of Ľutina, where the volunteers were accommodated. They came to the castle every day, where they helped, and they also took trips to the surrounding area. Their goal of getting to know Slovakia was fulfilled, but in a different way than through a travel agency, they were closer to the local community. Four unemployed people from the Roma settlement in the village of Milpoš, who are involved in the restoration of the castle through a social enterprise, also helped with the project. We have been cooperating with them for the third year. We have one new worker who is training alongside the others. The idea is to have more experienced workers and add another one to them who is acquiring work habits and learning alongside the others. A long-term unemployed woman takes care of a “castle herd” of goats and two ponies. "Guardian of the castle seal" Simona combines farming with dairy production, communicates with visitors, ensures the sale of souvenirs and thus helps support tourism."

The project activities were partly linked to the annual renovation, implemented under the Let's Renovate Our Home program from the Ministry of Culture, which was unfortunately delayed. The work schedule was thus shifted, but despite this, the watering hole is now cleaned and is gradually filling with water.

"The water level of the watering hole will certainly attract amphibians and contribute to strengthening the population of frogs, martens and salamanders. In the future, we would like to place an information board about wetland-bound animals at the watering hole," Martin Sárossy outlined future plans.