diff --git a/helpers/getTime.js b/helpers/getTime.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8f6b761a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/helpers/getTime.js
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+'use strict';
+
+/*
+ * FUNCTION
+ * getTime()
+ * 
+ * DESCRIPTION (WHAT)
+ * A wrapper for the Javascript getTime function which returns the Unix timestamp for the current date-time
+ * 
+ * USE CASE (WHY)
+ * As a theme developer, I may want to compare the current time against a date returned by
+ * Stencil as part of the conditional logic used to display products on my storefront
+ * 
+ * USAGE
+ *
+ * {{#if (phpDateToTimestamp 'category.products[0].date_added.') > 
+ *       ((getTime) - theme_settings.new_product_lag)) }}
+ *      // product is newer than the given time interval 
+ * {{/if}}
+ */
+
+function helper(paper) {
+    paper.handlebars.registerHelper('getTime', function () {
+        var d = new Date();
+        return d.getTime();
+    });
+}
+
+module.exports = helper;
+
diff --git a/helpers/phpDateToTimestamp.js b/helpers/phpDateToTimestamp.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e2b96eca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/helpers/phpDateToTimestamp.js
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+'use strict';
+
+/*
+** FUNCTION
+** phpDateToTimestamp(dateString)
+** 
+** DESCRIPTION (WHAT)
+** The Stencil framework returns date strings using a PHP format of "M jS Y" in the
+** page context. This function converts the string to milliseconds since Jan 1, 1970
+** in order to make it easier to perform date comparisons and operations.
+** 
+** USE CASE (WHY)
+** Some examples of how this would be used include the following story: As a merchant, 
+** I want to display a carousel on my category pages that displays cards for products
+** that were added to the catalog within the last month. In order to do that, I need
+** to be able to convert the "date added" field that appears in the product cards under
+** the category.products object. Likewise, the same behavior would apply to brand pages
+** with products.
+** 
+** USAGE
+**
+** {{#if (phpDateToTimestamp 'category.products[0].date_added.') > 
+**       ((getTime) - theme_settings.new_product_lag)) }}
+**   // product is newer than the given time interval 
+** {{/if}}
+**
+** and similarly with brands: 'brands.products[0].date_added.')
+*/
+
+function helper(paper) {
+    paper.handlebars.registerHelper('phpDateToTimestamp', function (dateString) {
+        if (typeof dateString !== 'string') {
+            return 0;
+        }
+        var dateArray = dateString.split(" ");
+        var month = 12;
+
+        switch (dateArray[0]) {
+        case "Jan":
+            month = 0;
+            break;
+        case "Feb":
+            month = 1;
+            break;
+        case "Mar":
+            month = 2;
+            break;
+        case "Apr":
+            month = 3;
+            break;
+        case "May":
+            month = 4;
+            break;
+        case "Jun":
+            month = 5;
+            break;
+        case "Jul":
+            month = 6;
+            break;    
+        case "Aug":
+            month = 7;
+            break;
+        case "Sep":
+            month = 8;
+            break;
+        case "Oct":
+            month = 9;
+            break;
+        case "Nov":
+            month = 10;
+            break;
+        case "Dec":
+            month = 11;
+            break;
+        }
+        // remove english ordinal suffix: nd, rd, st, th
+        var day = dateArray[1].replace(/[a-z]/g, "");
+        var year = dateArray[2];
+        var ts = new Date(year, month, day, 0, 0, 0);
+        return ts.getTime();
+    });
+}
+
+module.exports = helper;
+
diff --git a/test/helpers/phpDateToTimestamp.js b/test/helpers/phpDateToTimestamp.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..18095699
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/helpers/phpDateToTimestamp.js
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+var Code = require('code'),
+    Lab = require('lab'),
+    Paper = require('../../index'),
+    lab = exports.lab = Lab.script(),
+    describe = lab.experiment,
+    expect = Code.expect,
+    it = lab.it;
+
+function c(template, context) {
+    return new Paper().loadTemplatesSync({template: template}).render('template', context);
+}
+
+describe('phpDateToTimestamp helper', function() {
+
+    var context = {
+        st: 'Mar 1st 2017',
+        nd: 'Mar 2nd 2017', 
+        rd: 'Mar 3rd 2017',
+        th: 'Mar 4th 2017'
+    };
+
+    it('should return the unix timestamp for Mar 1st 2017 GMT', function(done) {
+
+        expect(c('{{phpDateToTimestamp st}}', context))
+            .to.be.equal('1488326400000');
+        done();
+    });
+
+    it('should return the unix timestamp for Mar 2nd 2017 GMT', function(done) {
+
+        expect(c('{{phpDateToTimestamp nd}}', context))
+            .to.be.equal('1488412800000');
+        done();
+    });
+
+    it('should return the unix timestamp for Mar 3rd 2017 GMT', function(done) {
+
+        expect(c('{{phpDateToTimestamp rd}}', context))
+            .to.be.equal('1488499200000');
+        done();
+    });
+
+    it('should return the unix timestamp for Mar 4th 2017 GMT', function(done) {
+
+        expect(c('{{phpDateToTimestamp th}}', context))
+            .to.be.equal('1488585600000');
+        done();
+    });
+
+});