Excuse me if I'm skipped over where it was mentioned in the documentation, but can someone please tell this new I2P user how address helpers are created?

hi

currently no fixed idea forsure, but in general it would:
look at the addresshelper format on stats.i2p and remove the b64 and hostname, replace it with the data you want to distribute.

echelon

See jump server section in https://geti2p.net/en/docs/naming
It doesn't quite say it there, but the parameter is simply the Base 64 of the destination.
For any host in your addressbook, the helper link is in your addressbook too

It's pretty easy (more technical details as described above can be found on geti2p.net). The prerequisite is that you have a page name, i.e. something.i2p, and the base64 address.
Next you can link the two components like this: