A special new room at Niswonger Children’s Hospital opened Thursday morning with all of the fanfare of a college game day.

Visitors to the hospital were welcomed inside by the cheers of athletes and cheerleaders from East Tennessee State University and Milligan College.

The festivities were a fitting tribute to the grand opening a Timmy’s Playroom, a joint project between the hospital and the Tim Tebow Foundation.

The new playroom on the first floor of the region’s only children’s hospital has a simple but important goal: to provide patients with a place to draw, create, play games and generally take their minds off their medical treatment.

“We feel very fortunate to be able to offer Timmy’s Playroom to our patients and their families,” said Steven Godbold, assistant vice president and CEO of Niswonger Children’s Hospital. “We know that play is an important part of the healing process for children battling illness, and Timmy’s Playroom will be a great help to our patients during their treatment. We’re grateful to the Tim Tebow Foundation and to Miss Liana Head and her family for making this possible.”

Head, an 18-year-old high school student from Knoxville, was the chief fundraiser for the Timmy’s Playroom project at the children’s hospital, personally raising more than $20,000 to help make the playroom a reality.

“I’ve been dealing with health issues myself since I was 4 years old,” Head said. “I understand what it feels like to need a brighter day. Sometimes, even more than medicine, what I wanted was to get outside or just sit and play.”

Her commitment to bringing a Timmy’s Playroom to the Tri-Cities began two years ago when she read a book by Tim Tebow and learned about his foundation and the Timmy’s Playrooms.

At the age of 16, Head began contacting the Tim Tebow Foundation trying to get them to bring the project to Niswonger. She also began working with the hospital and kicked off fund raising efforts for the project. And, she wouldn’t be ignored.

“She didn’t just contact the foundation, she continued to his us over and over and over again in a fight that was truly beautiful,” said Erik Dellenback, Executive Director and President of the Tim Tebow Foundation. Dellenback praised Head’s efforts and credit her work as one of the driving factors that brought a Timmy’s Playroom to East Tennessee.

Timmy’s Playroom is not a typical playroom. In addition to standard playroom features, it provides activities, video games, state-of-the-art technology and even cozy lockers where children can sit and read or simply find solitude. There is an iPad that controls the display of children’s drawings as they are projected onto a jumbotron-style television mounted on the wall. There are custom football chairs, Bible verses etched into the wall, motivational quotes and, of course, memorabilia from Tebow himself.

The mission of the Tim Tebow Foundation is “to bring Faith, Hope, and Love to those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour of need,” Dellenback said.

“When you walk in the door, we want to change the spirit, change the attitude and show there is something else besides medicine, there is hope,” Dellen back said. “We hope this room serves as a place for kids to take their minds off their medical treatments and it provides each patient, each family with faith, hope and love.”

“We are so excited to have a Timmy’s Playroom at Niswonger Children’s Hospital,” Dellenback added.

The new playroom in Johnson City marks the program’s sixth playroom. The Timmy’s Playroom projects began with one in Jacksonville, Fla., in 2012 and until Thursday they only existed in Florida and in Philippines. This is also the first Timmy’s Playroom not to feature a Florida Gators’ theme, but rather it features a generalized sports theme.

Tebow is a former first-round NFL draft pick by the Denver Broncos, and as a quarterback at the University of Florida he won the Heisman Trophy in 2007. He started The Tim Tebow Foundation to benefit several good causes based around children’s initiatives.

While Tebow was not able to make it to the grand opening of the playroom at Niswonger Children’s Hospital, Dellenback said he will be by to visit.

“Timmy visits every playroom. He loves to spend time with the kids,” Dellenback said. “When he comes he often likes to come quietly and off the record so he can just spend time with the kids.”