PANTEGO — It’s easy to take something as simple as a fitness room for granted.

Some communities have neither the money nor the resources to make a fitness room a reality.

But Pantego-Beaufort County Community Center is looking to give its residents their own much-needed fitness room to encourage healthy habits and exercise in the community of less than 200 people.

Raleigh Younger, who is coordinating the opening of the fitness room at the community center, said the town upgraded its exercise equipment about a year ago and he thinks it is important to compile the equipment into a fitness room. The room is scheduled to be open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 5-7 p.m. starting in December.

He said the community center has three treadmills, one elliptical, three bicycles, an exercise ball and 5-pound weights. The fitness room idea grew out of the bi-weekly class geared toward calisthenics that is already held at the center on Tuesdays and Thursdays, he said.

“It was here when I came into the place and then we upgraded it,” Younger said. “We’re ready to go.”

Pantego has a large population of elderly residents with health problems including arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, so it was important to teach residents how exercise can improve one’s health, he said.

“By putting the equipment in, we’re trying to reach out to the community,” Younger said. “It’s a service that we can be providing to the community to fulfill what they don’t have. There’s nowhere to go to get this here.”

He said he has received phone calls from residents as far away as Plymouth who are excited about the new resource.

Ultimately, Younger said he wants to help residents start exercising, keep their joints moving and “help them to keep on breathing.”

“People are looking forward to it, and I’m beginning to get excited about it,” he said. “I’m going to be here with the doors open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.”

The Pantego-Beaufort County Community Center’s fitness room will open the first week of December and operate Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 5 to 7 p.m.

The cost to attend is $3 per visit or $20 for an entire month.