Spaniards, Who Usually Aid Others, Being Asked To Help Their Own

(Journalist Lauren Frayer is a frequent contributor to NPR. She files this report from Madrid.)

For decades, the Red Cross has asked Spaniards to donate money to starving children in the Third World. But with Europe’s debt crisis, the needy are now right here at home.

The Spanish Red Cross today launched its first-ever fundraising campaign for Spaniards to donate directly to other Spaniards. The aid organization estimates that some 300,000 additional people in Spain are vulnerable to hunger because of the economic crisis.

With one in four Spaniards out of work, the country has Europe’s highest jobless rate. More than half of 20-somethings are unemployed. Spain has entered its second recession in three years.