So you didn’t get anything yet for your mother, grandmother, wife, daughter or whoever it is that you’d like to honor on Sunday.

Not a problem.

I’ve got an idea for you.

This gift is perfect for any mother who has ever worried about her kids, any mother who has ever felt that tug deep inside when her child walked out the door and headed off for the first time to kindergarten or summer camp or college.

Or war.

Mothers are an empathetic group, probably the most empathetic group you’ll ever find, but I dare say even mothers can’t come close to understanding — unless they’ve been through it themselves — how it must feel when a son or a daughter is overseas fighting. How they listen to the nightly news with fear in their hearts, how they startle when there’s a knock on the door, how they manage to answer the phone while holding their breath.

What we can understand, though, is how a mother responds when the call she was dreading comes through telling her that her child has been severely wounded. She grabs her purse, she jumps in a car, plane, train or whatever is the fastest way to get to her kid and then she stays there at his bedside for days or weeks or months or even, in some cases, years. Whatever it takes.

So what if she puts her life on hold? So what if she has to camp out in a hotel room? So what if everything else stops as long as that life she loves so much keeps on going?

In Texas, at the Brooke Army Medical Center, where thousands of our injured troops are treated for burns and amputations, there’s a family support center for mothers, fathers, spouses and children of injured soldiers. Unfortunately, the 1,200-square-foot facility is way too small for the number of families it serves.

(By the way, if you’re sitting there thinking, hey, she’s already written about this before, that’s true. And you should be proud. As it turns out, of all the donations of things like model kits and computers and recliners and movies the center has received, more have come from Rhode Island than from any other state!)

Recently, two generous brothers stepped up to the plate and offered to donate their design and construction talents to build a new 12,000-square-foot family center at Brooke called The Returning Heroes Home. It’s scheduled to open in early fall.

Also stepping up to the plate is Operation Support Our Troops (OSOT), based in North Kingstown, which has pledged $125,000 for the construction of the kitchen. It will become the center of the home where all those mothers and families living in hotel rooms can gather together and pour their hearts out along with a cup of coffee.

Mary Kay Salomone, founder of OSOT, puts it this way: “When a soldier is injured, it’s not just a statistic. It’s an entire family that’s wounded.”

Who could better understand that than a mother?

And that’s where my idea — and you — come in.

If you’d like to make a tax-deductible donation to help build this special kitchen, send your check to Operation Support Our Troops, P.O. Box 404, North Kingstown, RI 02852 and be sure to write “kitchen” in the memo line. If you’d like to make the donation in honor of your mother or other loved one, include her name and address and she’ll receive a special card from OSOT and her name will also be inscribed in a book displayed in the kitchen of the new Returning Heroes Home.

And on Sunday, here’s what you can tell her:

“In your honor, Mom, I’m helping to build a kitchen where families who have been wounded can go to share a cup of tea. A conversation. A piece of cake. A shoulder when they need it most. That’s something I know you’ll appreciate.”

Rita Lussier can be reached at ReetsAL@aol.com or by mail c/o Features Department, The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain Street, Providence, RI 02902.