Let's Eat: Dolce Luna

Dolce Luna Italian Café & Gelato Bar is much more than a gelato bar. It sells coffee, sandwiches, salads and sends kids to football camp.

Owner Tina Noglik has created the "Give a Quarterback" program to help support the Matt Leinart Foundation.

The program is threefold: For every gelato, tea or coffee they sell, 25 cents of that will go toward the foundation.

Also, about 30 independently-owned businesses have donated gifts, prizes and certificates that will be raffled off weekly. Tickets are $1 each, or six tickets for $5, with proceeds going to the foundation.

A separate raffle will also be held for a chance for four kids ages 7 to 14 to win a spot at the second annual Matt Leinart Football Camp. Tickets are $5 each, or five tickets for $20. On May 21, Matt Leinart will be in the store to draw the winners.

The Ahwatukee Foothills Family YMCA is also participating, giving 20 percent of its sales for their Strong Kids Campaign.

Noglik said as soon as she began talking to other businesses about her fundraising idea, they immediately asked how they could be involved.

"A lot of times when businesses do (fundraisers) like this, it just always seems to be just about them," Noglik said. "I didn't want to make it just about me because we are a community. It's great to see how many (businesses) jumped on board."

Businesses also donated their services for Dolce Luna's kickoff party. International Minute Press donated promotional cards and posters for the program, Party Land donated a balloon arch and Active Moms donated an inflatable bounce house, just to name a few.

"It was really great how it was a community effort," Noglik said.

Noglik opened Dolce Luna a year and a half ago at 4647 E. Chandler Blvd. Having grown up in Germany, Noglik said there were places like Dolce Luna everywhere, where you can come in pretty much any time of the day to meet friends or have a business meeting, she said.

Dolce Luna offers free Wi-Fi and water dishes for dogs in its outdoor seating area.

Dolce Luna's gelato recipes were created by world-renowned Italian pastry chef Luciano Ferrari.

About 10 of its gelato flavors at any given time are dairy-free. The gelato is all-natural and made from scratch, using no artificial coloring or preservatives, and is made in small batches so it's always fresh.

For more information, call (480) 753-0007 or visit www.dolcelunagelato.com. For more information on the "Give a Quarterback" program, visit www.giveaquarterback.com.