John Mayer is most known for his mega music hits. But the 48-year-old singer has another passion: supporting veterans battling PTSD. Mayer founded The Heart and Armor Foundation in 2019, after first meeting wounded warriors in 2008. Deeply moved by who he met and what he saw, it planted the seed for a journey to help them heal. This week, Mayer also earned The Hollywood Reporter‘s honor for Philanthropist of the Year for his work with Heart and Armor—which has raised $13 million so far in scientific research towards veteran health, including earning a grant from the Department of Defense. Why Mayer began helping veterans Mayer first encountered wounded warriors during a 2008 visit to Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Getting to know them had a deep impact on him. He told CBS News, “It was not set up as a celebrity visit. So, they didn’t know I was coming, but it was the most natural way to meet these veterans, and just immediately start talking and hearing their stories,” he said. “The humanness of it is what struck me.” On his foundation’s website, Mayer wrote more about how he gained a passion for helping veterans. He shared: “I am about the same age as the first wave of Iraq and Afghanistan military veterans. I have felt gratitude and discomfort about the disproportionately large burden that military service members carry in our society, and I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out the best way to ‘support the troops’ with real action instead of platitudes.” Mayer and his Heart and Armor Foundation are hoping to take a new approach to PTSD: to look at it not just as a mental injury, but a physical one. “If you can take it outside of the mystery of the mind and externalize it, people get very energized by seeing it as an empirical, objective challenge,” he told THR. View this post on Instagram Investing in veterans The experience prompted Mayer to begin funding research into PTSD and traumatic brain injuries. In 2012, Mayer began to commission studies to help veterans. In 2019, he officially launched Heart and Armor—which has produced 25 studies. These studies include cover a variety of topics related to veterans, including  “exercise and PTSD symptoms, military service and women’s eating habits, as well as the psychological effects of military sexual trauma.” Mayer told THR, “We didn’t get a Department of Defense grant because they said, ‘Oh, John Mayer’s a part of this.’ We got it because we passed all the levels of scientific skepticism and showed these departments that there were applicable results.” @cbsmornings @johnmayer opens up about his decade-long mission to address veterans’ mental health through his nonprofit foundation, HeartandArmor. #ptsd #johnmayer #mentalhealth #nonprofit ♬ original sound – CBS Mornings Heart and Armor has raised $13 million for scientific research, with a goal to raise $50 million for further veteran research by 2027. Mayer himself has donated $5 million of his own money to support research and veteran programs, per THR. Helping veterans is a bigger part of Mayer’s legacy and identity that he hopes transcends his celebrity status. “I approach things along the lines of, ‘If I wasn’t a celebrity, I would still be doing this,'” Mayer told THR. “I want to see myself as a person doing this stuff, which to me is more expansive than being ‘John Mayer the singer,’ and it makes sure I’m accountable the whole time.” The post A chance 2008 encounter with a wounded warrior led John Mayer to raise $13 million for veterans appeared first on Upworthy.