Dozens of mothers and their children will dress in black and hold hands as they throw roses into a makeshift raft they will set adrift this afternoon in honor of Elisabeth Brotons, mother to Elian Gonzalez, the rafter boy plucked from the sea last Thanksgiving.

 Brotons and 10 others died on the ill-fated voyage that brought Elian, 6, to the United States from Cuba.

 ``It's for her and all the mothers that have died for freedom. Not only Cuban mothers, but every mother that has died for freedom,'' said Ana Rodriguez, 35, a mother of three girls who lives in Westchester.

 A prayer service will begin at 2 p.m. by the sea wall behind Ermita de la Caridad Catholic Church, 3609 S. Miami Ave. Afterward, roses of every color will be thrown into a raft the Rodriguez family and her daughters' friends built to the specifications suggested by a rafter who made a trip similar to Brotons'.

 ``We inflated three inner tubes and roped them together and then put a net over them. We did it exactly how he told us he came,'' Rodriguez said.

 ``We're hoping that it's an event people take seriously. It's a very sad moment.''

 The idea sprouted when Rodriguez and women she knew via the Internet began talking about the Elian case and how they could do something for his mother on Mother's Day.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald