IP Helper is used to direct certain broadcasts through a router to another LAN. For example, if you have 8 wks attached to a router interface that do not have a DHCP serve on their local segment, the IP Helper address can be configured on that interface so that when the clients boot up, their DHCP broadcasts can be pointed towards a DHCP server on a different LAN. By default, the router would not forward these b/casts and the wks would never get IP addresses.
IP Helper also forwards NetBIOS b/casts, plus TFTP and a few others
Daniel,