First lady distributes food and gifts to the poor

NEW YORK (CNN) -- First Lady and Senator-elect Hillary Rodham Clinton was back on the streets shaking hands in New York on Thursday morning.

Mrs. Clinton took part in a holiday food and toy distribution program in Harlem that was organized by the Feed the Children, a nonprofit organization.

She helped hand out 1,600 boxes containing food (including holiday turkeys) and hygiene products to 800 families, some of whom had waited in line up to six hours in 30-degree weather to receive the goods.

About $250,000 worth of merchandise was distributed, according to Larry Jones, president of Feed the Children.

Mrs. Clinton did not take questions from reporters about her recent $8 million dollar book deal or any other subject.

Early Thursday afternoon, she participated in a similar holiday distribution at a Salvation Army depot in Syracuse.

Mrs. Clinton has made only a few public appearances in New York since winning her Senate race Nov. 7. She's attended a Thanksgiving celebration at the elementary school in her adopted hometown of Chappaqua, a November dinner for people with AIDS, and the Dec. 4 dedication of a Manhattan federal courthouse to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., whom she succeeds in office on January 3.

After Mrs. Clinton returns to Washington late Thursday afternoon, she will join the president for the lighting of a menorah in the Oval Office. The eight-day Jewish holiday of Hannukah begins at sundown.