Eugene Ribakoff, a philanthropist and businessman who headed the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee for eight years, died last Friday at the age of 84.

The Fellowship Foundation (also known as the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews), headed by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, provides ongoing assistance and support to children from low-income Jewish families.

The Conservative movement has raised $40,000 to help rebuild a synagogue destroyed in the recent earthquake in Chile.

The Ohr Avner Chabad Day School in Baku has launched its pre-Passover campaign. As part of the campaign, two tons of matzah that were sent to Azerbaijan from Israel as a gift from the Ohr Avner Foundation, were distributed.

Renovation work on the Choral Synagogue in Tomsk, one of the oldest synagogues in Siberia, is well underway with hopes of the project being finished as early as September 2010.

The Jewish community of Zhitomir received a delegation of rabbis visiting from France.

The Jewish community of Krivoy Rog celebrated two milestones on March 7: a ceremony to lay the foundation stone for the future Jewish kindergarten and sports complex, and a ceremony to begin writing a new Torah scroll.

The Reform movement should encourage interfaith couples to stay in the Jewish community, a task force proposed.

In the west Siberian city of Omsk, the Chaya Mushka Kindergarten has opened a new group for children.

The Jewish Community of Mariupol gathered at the Aristocrat Restaurant for a Purim celebration attended by Jews of all ages –children, teenagers, and young adults through senior citizens.