圣诞老人的帮手有的身穿制服，有的身穿细条纹西装。

在圣诞节日期间，国务院工作人员的头脑中考虑的不仅是美国的外交事务。这是一年中他们大力支持美国海军陆战队预备队发起的一年一度的为贫困儿童捐赠新玩具的时间。

布赖恩·哈雷（Bryon Harley）说：“在国务院这里开展的收集玩具活动通常收到3,000个至5,000个捐赠的玩具。” 布赖恩·哈雷是国务院的一位安全专家，同时也是海军陆战队预备队的一名射击军士长，他担任国务院“向孩童赠送玩具”（Toys for Tots）项目的协调员。他说，近9年来，国务院一直是设在华盛顿地区的所有联邦政府机构中捐赠最多的机构。今年，负责保卫国务院各大楼安全的穿制服的保安人员率先发起了一场令人印象深刻的购买 35辆自行车和安全头盔的活动。

“向孩童赠送玩具”项目于1947年由一批海军陆战队预备队队员创办，为全美国的贫困儿童服务。2010年，这项活动在全国范围内共收集到1670万个玩具，分发给7百多万名儿童。

Santa’s elves wear uniforms as well as pin-striped suits.

U.S. diplomacy isn’t the only thing on the minds of State Department employees during the holiday season. That’s the time of year when they support in a big way the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve’s annual drive to collect new toys for needy children.

“Typically the toy drive here at State receives donations of 3,000 to 5,000 toys,” said Bryon Harley, a security specialist at State and a master gunnery sergeant in the Marine Corps Reserve who coordinates the Toys for Tots program for the department. For the last nine years, he said, the State Department has been the largest contributor out of all federal government agencies in the Washington metropolitan area. This year, the Uniformed Protection Officers that secure State Department buildings spearheaded a drive to purchase an impressive collection of 35 bicycles and safety helmets.

Founded in 1947 by a group of Marine Corps reservists, Toys for Tots programs serve poor children across the United States. The 2010 campaign collected 16.7 million toys nationwide that were distributed to more than 7 million children.