Handlebars helper not getting value of variable

I'm Trying to create a custom "if_eq" helper for a Handlebars / Ember application. The helper is called with the following syntax: {{#if_eq item.name 'bob'}}, but is receiving 2 string values to compare (literally 'item.name' and 'bob'), instead of the value of "item.name" in the context it was called. Wondering what I might be doing wrong. Thanks!

Relevant code snippets are listed below and also created a jsbin to illustrate the problem here

Helper Code

Handlebars.registerHelper('if_eq', function(a, b, opts) {
    console.log( "Comparing ", a, b);
    if(a == b)
        return opts.fn(this);
    else
        return opts.inverse(this);
});

Template code

<ul>
    {{#each item in model}}
        {{#if_eq item.name 'bob'}}
            <li>We have a bob here!</option>
        {{else}}
            <li>A non-bob</li>
        {{/if_eq}}
    {{/each}}
</ul>