The Red Cross in Spain has launched a first ever campaign to raise money to help the hundreds of thousands of Spaniards needing food handouts as the economic crisis deepens.

The charity is looking for donations to help 300,000 of the country’s most vulnerable with unemployment running at 25 per cent more and more people are falling into the hunger trap.

The Red Cross says since the crisis hit it has seen a dramatic rise in Spanish families seeking help including the middle class.

Jose Javier Sanchez Espinosa is from the Red Cross:

“We are specially worried for those who having lost their jobs have lost the will to live and the place they used to occupy in society.We are worried they will stop looking for work and fall into depression, which leads to exclusion.”

The TV ad used by the Red Cross runs the slogan “More people than you think need help in our country.”