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Now in is 9th year, the East Village's annual Cookie Walk is a unique holiday offering where you purchase a cookie container then fill it as much as you can with delicious cookies from dozens of the best local bakers.

Our Cookie Team bakes over 50,000 holiday cookies - about 75 varieties - all by hand using the finest ingredients for our delicious, handcrafted cookies. What makes the Cookie Walk unique is that you are in charge. You “take a walk” around tables laden with cookies and hand-pick your favorites to fill an empty box.

There are two box sizes offered for $15 or $25, and even have gluten-free options. The 9th Annual Cookie Walk is being held at St. Nicholas of Myra Orthodox Church on 10th and A in Alphabet City on Saturday, December 9th (11am - 4pm) and 10th (Noon - 3pm).

Be sure to get there early for the best selection!

Freebird Bookstore is a small, independently-owned bookstore in Red Hook, Brooklyn, that has a unique way of giving back. Through their popular Books Through Bars program, volunteers work to send donated books to incarcerated people all across the nation through the U.S. Mail. Prisoners will write to request books, and the non-profit organization will do their best to get the right book out.

The basement of Freebird Bookstore in Red Hook is home to Books Through Bars, an operation that links prisoners with books based on the genre or title they request. Often, prison libraries have limited, narrow selections, denying prisoners their basic need of information and stories. We hear from volunteers and the prisoners they serve.

See how it all works in this video from our friends at BRIC TV, then donate your time or used books here.