diff --git a/app/helpers/markdown_helper.rb b/app/helpers/markdown_helper.rb
index 590956ce..94cca473 100644
--- a/app/helpers/markdown_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/markdown_helper.rb
@@ -14,4 +14,33 @@ module MarkdownHelper
     md = Redcarpet::Markdown.new(TwitteredMarkdown, MARKDOWN_OPTS)
     CGI.unescape_html(Sanitize.fragment(md.render(content), EVIL_TAGS)).strip
   end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+
+  def raw_markdown(content)
+    md = Redcarpet::Markdown.new(Redcarpet::Render::HTML)
+    raw md.render content
+  end
+
+  def get_markdown(path, relative_to = Rails.root)
+    begin
+      File.read relative_to.join(path)
+    rescue Errno::ENOENT
+      "# Error reading #{relative_to.join(path)}"
+    end
+  end
+
+  def markdown_io(path, relative_to = Rails.root)
+    markdown get_markdown path, relative_to
+  end
+
+  def strip_markdown_io(path, relative_to = Rails.root)
+    strip_markdown get_markdown path, relative_to
+  end
+
+  def twitter_markdown_io(path, relative_to = Rails.root)
+    twitter_markdown get_markdown path, relative_to
+  end
+
+  def raw_markdown_io(path, relative_to = Rails.root)
+    raw_markdown get_markdown path, relative_to
+  end
+end