Wilbur Colom Named to First Book Board of Directors

Columbus attorney Wilbur O. Colom has been named to the board of directors of Washington, DC-based First Book.

First Book is a national advocacy group for literacy issues, responsible for giving free books to underprivileged children around the United States. Last year, a First Book Local Advisory Board was established in Columbus by The Colom Foundation, of which Colom is president and founder. The local First Book group distributed nearly 300,000 books in the latter half of 2003 alone.

Colom was invited to join First Book at the national level because of the outstanding success of the Columbus program, said Colom Foundation Director and First Book L.A.B. President Deborah Schumaker.

“We are thrilled that he has been selected for this honor,” Schumaker said. “Mr. Colom’s commitment to First Book is an inspiration to all of us on the Local Advisory Board, and we are looking forward to expanding and doing even more work with the additional opportunities this will give us.”

First Book is a national nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. In the last two years alone, First Book has provided almost 15 million new books to children in need in hundreds of communities nationwide. For more information about First Book, or to make a donation to help children in need, please visit www.firstbook.org.