At least half a million dollars has been raised by the residents of Colorado Springs to help the victims of the Waldo Canyon Fire, WORLD News Service reports. Almost $300,000 of the total came from a July 4 benefit concert and telethon featuring the Colorado Springs Philharmonic with appearances by the Flying W Wranglers, Michael Martin Murphey and Flash Cadillac. Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family was a major sponsor of the event. Murphey, a country singer-songwriter who lives in the Colorado Springs area, regularly does benefits for farmers and ranchers in the western U.S. whenever there are floods, fires and droughts.
